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High Speed Milling at Precision CNC |
 A Mazak Raving Fan... Karl Witte, Owner of Precision CNC, poses near his
VTC-16A. Karl tells us, "there are so many good things, but if I have to choose one
or two it would be the Fusion 640 control and the Mazak reputation." |
 by David Hines "I won’t buy anything else but a Mazak. I wish I had bought one of these machines in the first place." This testimonial about Mazak was given by Karl Witte, owner of Precision CNC in South Elgin, Illinois. Karl began his business in his garage in 1991 with a partner whom he later bought out. In ’92 he moved to his present location and has since replaced all his old garage-days equipment. Eighty percent of his productivity has always been electrodes which he sells to at least ten regular customers including nearby Armin Tool and Extreme Tool in Ironwood, MI. |
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On the surface Mazak seemed more expensive than comparable machines from other companies. However, when Karl figured out what extras he would have to purchase to make a Fadal seemingly comparable to the Mazak product, he found that the price was nearly equal. Recognizing the superiority of Mazak and being helped with financing by MSI, buying the Mazak was a no-brainer. "On average, the feed rate on the Mazak is three times faster and sometimes eight times faster than other machines I have had. The slow process of spoon feeding large programs from an external PC is no longer necessary because of Mazak's built in 2GB hard drive."
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Karl bought his first Mazak, a VTC-16A, which has a vertical traveling column, in October, 1998. He made a test program and asked several companies to run the test on their machinery, among them Fadal and Haas. "Mazak blew the competition away," Karl reported. The test was to determine actual block processing speed during cutting. Machines tested required from 35 seconds to over a minute to complete the task Karl had designed. The Mazak did it in 17 seconds. When Karl bought the VTC-16A with Fusion 640 control, John Coudal (MSI Sales Engineer) thought it would increase speeds by 30 percent over Karl's previous CNC machining centers. Imagine how pleasantly surprised both John and Karl were when it turned out to be up to 600% faster.
On the surface Mazak seemed more expensive than comparable machines from other companies. However, when Karl figured out what extras he would have to purchase to make a Fadal seemingly comparable to the Mazak product, he found that the price was nearly equal. Recognizing the superiority of Mazak and being helped with financing by MSI, buying the Mazak was a no-brainer. "On average, the feed rate on the Mazak is three times faster and sometimes eight times faster than other machines I have had. The slow process of spoon feeding large programs from an external PC is no longer necessary because of Mazak's built in 2GB hard drive."
Witte uses Mazatrol language with his Fusion 640 control, something he learned without ever going to class. As Karl said, "It’s pretty easy."
Another superior aspect of the Mazak VTC 16A for Karl is that the table is stationary and all the movements are in the column. This allows him to easily mount vacuum lines to collect his graphite dust right at the tool tip. Since the ways are not in or under the work envelope and coolant is restricted to the work area, way oil and coolant don't mix. When asked what one thing most impressed him about his Mazak machine, Karl thought for minute and then finally replied, "there are so many good things, but if I have to choose one or two it would be the Fusion 640 control and the Mazak reputation."
For more information on Precision CNC's electrodes call 847.741.9363.
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Revised: October 13, 2006.